Greece's EU commissioner assails austerity

BRUSSELS, Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Greece's European Commissioner Maria Damanaki said austerity budgeting has cut into job growth and is a "distortive" solution to Europe's economic woes.

"Too much emphasis is placed on the debt problem. Consolidation is not a sufficient answer if it's not coupled with economic growth," she said referring to austerity budgets in Europe.

"And it is a distortive answer if it leads to social degradation," Damanaki said in a speech prepared for a meeting of trade unionists in Brussels, EUobserver reported Friday.

In a rare break from the unity presented in public by EU commissioners, Damanaki said current policies had created "disappointing" results in the labor market.

"More and more workers are in precarious jobs only," she said. In the 27-member European Union, she said, 23 million are working in "bogus self-employment with no contractual cover and little social protection."